Contents tagged with Minsk agreements

  • Ukrainian Foreign Minister: Ukraine will withdraw from Minsk agreements if the Council of Europe lifts Russian sanctions

    Ukraine is willing to desist from implementing the Minsk Agreements if several European states agree to loosen sanctions against the Russian Federation in the Council of Europe, stated Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

    “A lot of people asked me yesterday how the Council of Europe will (move forward on the issue of sanctions against the Russian Federation). I told them honestly that if they choose to follow several other countries, I’ll go out and say …

  • Medvedchuk: Zelensky could have Ukrainian prisoners in Donbas released within 5 days

    Viktor Medvedchuk, head of the Ukrainian political party “Opposition Platform – For Life” and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told 112 Ukraine in an interview that since May 2018 he has not been involved in the humanitarian subgroup for the Donbas.

    Medvedchuk said that the day before the last prisoner exchange (27 December 2017), President Petro Poroshenko have him a guarantee that the next stage of the exchange would be done in the format “all candidates for all …

  • Volker: Russia has been violating the Minsk Agreements every day for the last four years

    US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker stated on Twitter that Russia has long been violating the Minsk Agreements without cease.

    "Four years ago, Russia signed the Minsk Package of Measures with the first point being a February 14 ceasefire. About a week later Russia and its proxy forces seized Debaltseve,” Volker said. "In the four years since, Russia has continued to violate the Minsk Agreements every day.”

    On February 12, 2015, because of negotiations in Minsk, participants of …

  • Ukraine joins EU sanctions against Russia

    According to the message published on European Council’s website, Montenegro, Albania, Norway and Ukraine joined the Council’s December decision to extend economic sanctions against Russia.  

    “The European Council adopted decision 2018/2078 on December 21, 2018 (Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: “On restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine”). The Council decision prolongs the restrictive measures for a further six months, until July 31 …

  • OSCE prepares new peace plan for the Donbas

    In an interview with the newspaper Kleine Zeitung, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairmanship in Ukraine and the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, Martin Sajdik said that the OSCE Ministerial Council had been presented with a new peace plan for the Donbas conflict, which should replace the Minsk agreements. 

    Sajdik is the main author of the new concept of peace and has stated that plan was introduced to Russia and Ukraine in the OSCE. 

    The Special Representative proposed the …

  • Lavrov: Russia will lose rest of Ukraine if it recognizes the DPR and LPR

    If Russia recognizes the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics (the DPR and LPR), it will lose relations with Ukraine, which will remain in the hands of the current regime, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on the air of the Komsomolskaya Pravda Radio Station, explaining why Russia does not recognize the DPR and LPR.

    “You want to recognize the DPR and LPR? What then? Do you want to lose the rest of Ukraine and leave it to the Nazis?” he said.

     “We are not at war …

  • Russia accuses US representative Volker of undermining Minsk agreements

    The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker is working on the “destruction” of the Minsk Agreements, stated the Russian Foreign Ministry after the U.S. diplomat representative criticized Russia’s proposal for the UN peacekeeping mission.

    “Speaking in support of the Minsk agreements, Volker is actually working to destroy them. This is precisely the goal of his concept for the full occupation of the DPR and LPR territories by the so-called “ …

  • Russian Foreign Minister claims sanctions harm the implementation of the Minsk agreements

    Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov stated that the European Union "invites Ukraine to sabotage the Minsk Agreements" and that Russia ends up paying for it. At a meeting with his Italian colleague, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, Lavrov accused Ukraine again of not implementing the Minsk Agreements, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.

    Lavrov still denies that the Russian Federation violates the Minsk agreements. He accused Ukraine of not conducting a dialogue with the Russian-backed DPR …

  • Hollande: Putin threatened Poroshenko at Minsk talks

    During the Normandy Format talks in Minsk in February 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to “crush” the Ukrainian troops. This is mentioned in a memoir by former French president François Hollande titled “Lessons of Power”.

    “Poroshenko and Putin constantly raised their voices with each other. The Russian president was so worked up, that he started threatening to decisively crush his counterpart’s forces. This showed that there are Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. Putin …

  • President of Belarus Lukashenko: Minsk will remain a negotiation platform for Donbas

    Minsk will remain a platform for negotiations on finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Donbas, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko said on Sunday, Belta agency reports.

    “This subject was blown out of proportion in the mass media almost to the extent of a scandal. I know this platform will remain. Do you think anybody will go to Asia to resolve European problems?” Lukashenko asked.

    The President also said this was a shared opinion in Germany. “We are not taking part in the …